Falling Stars
by PassionateDarkness
Summary: When Dawn, followed by Spike, retreats to L.A. to avoid the repercusions of her actions things only seem to get worse. Especially when Angel's son enters the picture and the Key isnt to sure if she can ever trust herself, or a man again.
1. Arrivals

She took a deep breath, following the peroxide vamp into the ancient hotel. It was around nine at night and the two had been driving for two strait hours. Spike turned to face her and used his only free hand to grasp hers. The other held her duffle bag over his shoulder. His own bag was still in the trunk of his Desoto. She tried to smile at him but it only came out as a grimace. He understood though and slowed down his walking pace as they crossed the lobby towards the reception desk, where a pretty young woman was sitting, glasses perched on her nose as she intently read a file. She looked up as she heard Spike drop the bag.

"Spike! I have picture frames in there," The brunette complained, though obviously not upset with the man. He smiled apologetically at the girl before turning back to the woman behind the desk.

"We're here to see Angel," He told her, flashing his famous smirk. Dawn elbowed him in the ribs and turned to the girl.

"Hi, I'm Dawn Summers. We're sorry we didn't call but it was kind of an emergency and we had to get out of Sunnydale," She turned back to Spike. "You don't think he'll be mad at me right? I mean, you weren't but Xander was and I don't think I can handle Angel being mad at me,"

"He won't be mad, love," The vampire assured her, pulling her into a hug. The other girl watched, entraced by the showing of love between the two. Cordelia entered the lobby, stopping short at the sight of one of her boss's enemies and the sister of the slayer embracing in the middle of the lobby.

"Dawn?" The seer asked quietly, and the teenager turned around and sent the former Queen of Sunnydale High a small, almost nonexistent, smile.

"Hi, Cordy," She whispered, and was surprised as the older woman hugged her.

"How are you?" At the question, Cordy noticed the Spike was waving his arms in a clear, don't-ask-that motion. She instantly took it back when Dawn burst into tears and stumbled back into Spike's arms.

"Oh, love," He cooed, stroking her hair softly. "It's okay, 'Bit. No one's going to be mad at you," Spike sent a pointed glance up the stairs, as if trying to mentally tell his sire that he better not upset the youngest and only remaining Summers more than she already was. Said vampire entered the lobby with two men, all three joking around too much to notice their new arrivals.

"Angel," Cordy's voice was demanding and the vampire instantly looked up. His eyes landed on his childe and Dawn.

"Dawn?" His eyes almost bugged out of his head as he charged at them. Throwing Spike off the young girl, the younger vampire was thrown into the wall. His head hit with a crack and Angel and the older black man both charged at Spike. The younger boy, who looked around Dawn's age, ran to her aid.

"Angel, no!" Dawn screamed, running and throwing herself on top of Spike saving him from Angel's impending stake. If not for his reflexes, Dawn would have been impaled through the heart. She was sobbing, hugging Spike tightly. "You said you wouldn't leave me," She cried, pounding on his chest.

"Love," He whispered, holding her against him. " 'Bit," She continued ignoring him. "Dawn," he screamed, sitting strait up and pulling her on his lap. "I'm right here, I didn't go anywhere. I'm right here,"

"Promise?"

"'Till the end of the world," He revowed, and Dawn calmed down slightly. "Now what in the bloody hell were you thinking doing that. You could have hurt the both of you,"

"The both of her?" The black man questioned and the only two people who didn't look confused in the room were Angel and the youngest boy.

"She's pregnant," Angel whispered, though everyone in the room heard it. And everyone stood in shock, staring at Dawn as she burst into tears for about the tenth time since her and her only guardian had entered the hotel.

Authors Note: Any thoughts? Please review. You'll find out more about everyone and Dawn's pregnancy. Including who the father is. It's AU after the Gift and when Connor comes back he comes back without Holtz and learns to trust Angel. They have a father-son relationship now.


	2. Shock

Cordelia had sat her at the kitchen table and placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of her. Mini-marshmallows swam freely among the brown sweetness and the teenager seemed entranced by her drink. She was avoiding looking at them, avoiding seeing the disappointment. Connor, the youngest boy, was introduced as Angel's son. After the initial shock wore off, and of course her sobbing, she had shook his hand and told him it was nice to meet him. It was still a little to weird to think that Angel had offspring. She could just imagine Buffy freaking out about that. Spike smoothed her mass of hair down lightly and took her hot chocolate from her, scooping the marshmallows into his own. She took two spoonfuls of his drink, surfing around the marshmallows, and deposited them into her own. The Fang Gang watched them in shock, as though amazed by how well the two knew each other.

"So, you're Buffy's sister?" Gunn questioned, and Dawn looked up and met his eyes. She nodded slightly. "Wait, is this the little girl in that picture?" Angel replied with a nod and Dawn looked at him sharply.

"You have a picture of me?"

"It's cute," He shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee. She sighed, and awaited the questions she knew would follow after Angel revealed her secret to the whole hotel. It wasn't like she was shocked when she found out that he could hear the heart beats. After all, that's how Spike found out.

"So you're having a baby," Fred clarified, and Spike cracked a smile. The small Texan was the first to bring the subject up and the tension instantly thinned in the room.

"Dawn, how did this happen?" Cordy asked, sitting next to her and taking her hand in her own.

"Well, pet, when two people really love each other…" Spike was cut off as Angel slapped him upside the head.

"It wasn't planned," Dawn whispered, and the seer squeezed her hand lightly. "None of it was," The way her tone dropped sent chills down the room's spines and Connor stared at her, confused.

"How isn't this kind of thing planned?" Angel sighed, and turned to his son.

"Sometimes, accidents happen,"

"My baby isn't an accident. She's here for a reason,"

"So you were trying to get pregnant?" Gunn stared at her, shock fluttering across his face. Dawn felt tears begin to gather in her eyes, she turned to Spike, pleading.

"What the 'Bit means is that even if the reason she's pregnant was unplanned, her baby is here because the Powers wanted her to be here," Angel nodded and Spike continued. "Dawn didn't plan on getting pregnant, but since we found out she's decided that she wants to keep the baby. No talk about abortion would get through to her, believe me the Whelp tried. The problem is that the second the demons of Sunnydale find out that the Slayer's sister is pregnant all hell will break loose. And I don't want to put Dawn through the torture of having to be around her classmates as they see her develop. I'm legally Dawn's guardian, and the hellmouth still has Faith so we split. Figured we'd come here. If we're not welcome, we'll leave. Lots of other places we can go, but the 'Bit wanted to come here first,"

"Of course she's welcome here," Cordelia answered, emphasis on the she and making it all to clear that Spike wasn't as welcome.

"Spike doesn't leave," Dawn whispered, declaring her devotion to the vampire. Though her voice was low her tone was clear. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that she would not stick by her statement.

"All right. Fred, why don't you take Dawn up to the spare bedroom and get her settled," Angel said, turning towards the small-framed woman.

"Angel, we have like twelve spare bedrooms." Cordy laughed.

"I was trying to sound all professional like. Fine, put her in room 7 and Spike in room 8," Fred nodded and Dawn quickly stood up. She walked over to Angel and quickly brushed her lips across his cheek. She did the same to Spike before leaving the room and following Fred. "Did you kill the father?"

"Tried as hard as I could. Didn't get three punches in before my nose started bleeding from this bloody chip,"

"Who was it?" Gunn asked quietly, turning towards the vampire.

"His name was Christopher,"

"I can't believe Dawn had sex," Cordelia stated, resting her head in her hands.

"She didn't, love. She was raped,"

Author's Note: If it seems overdone, I'm sorry. I'm actually liking where this is going. More about Dawn's rape and her baby. And actually this isn't, for once, going to be Spawn. Spike and Dawn are just best friends. Pairings wont happen for a while because she's all traumatized and stuff. Please review.


	3. Monsters

"She was what?" Connor asked, shocked at what the vampire had just revealed. Spike had his head down, staring at the wood table instead of at the people gathered around him. He prayed Dawn was occupied and wouldn't walk in on their conversation. She was still in shock and the last thing he needed was for her to break down again. He was running out of dry shirts.

"He raped her," He reiterated, turning to face the boy. "You know what that means right? The bloody bastard held her down and violated her. He killed the little bit of innocence that was left in my girl. Left her battered and bruised in a graveyard. She was alone for three hours before I got worried and went to find her. He's damn lucky a vamp didn't come along or he'd be in the ground,"

"I can't believe this," Cordy whispered, sitting heavily in the chair Dawn had vacated. "When did this happen,"

"Fourteen days ago,"

"You know the exact date?" Gunn asked, a little surprised.

"I've cursed it since it happened. I vowed to protect her and I failed," His voice lowered. "Again,"

"Spike, you couldn't stop it," Angel told him, trying his best to comfort his childe.

"I should have," He barely got the words out before he was slapped.

"Don't you dare blame yourself for some pigs mistake. I watched you with her and you were amazing. She loves you and probably wouldn't have made it through this without you so if I hear you blame yourself again, I'll kick the crap out of you, ya hear me?" He stared in shock at the young brunette seer before allowing the tips of his mouth to curve upward.

"Why did he do it?" Connor questioned, and Gunn sighed.

"Because men like that are the worst damn monsters you'll ever see," Spike looked at the black man in respect before turning to Angel.

"What happened, Spike? What did the boy do? Well, I know what he did but I mean…" Angel stopped speaking when Spike nodded and explained.

"They went on a date. She was so excited, Angel," He was crying now, and Cordy placed a supportive arm around his shoulders. "Dressed all nice and pretty. Make up and all. I met the boy, shook his hand. She kissed me good-bye and was off. He was human. He was fucking human. She's all I have left, Liam, all I have left and he killed a part of her,"

"I know, William, I know," And Angel reached his hand across the table, placing it upon Spike's as the vampire allowed steady tears to flow down his face.

"Don't let her get hurt here. I can only do so much," The younger begged, his voice so low that Angel had to strain to hear it.

"Spike, I watched Dawn grow up, which means I love her too. I used to tuck her in at night when Buffy was on patrol and her mom had to work late. She's like a sister to me and I wont let anything in this world hurt her. Don't forget that," Spike nodded, before requesting that Cordelia show him his room.

"She's so young," Gunn stated, running a hand over his bare head.

"They always are," Angel shuddered, remembering times when he had been the rapist. Remembering girls who reminded him a little too much of Dawn.

"That bastard," Connor muttered, sitting down and staring at the cup Dawn had drank from. "She's only a little girl,"

"She's sixteen, Con," Angel informed him and he showed no concern about the fact that there was only two years age difference between the two of them.

"I wish he had murdered him," The teenager said venomously, and Angel cringed because for once he agreed with his son.

"He's going to tell them," Fred looked at her confused as the younger girl sat gently down on the bed, running her hand over the mauve comforter.

"Tell them what?"

"That he raped me," She ignored Fred's gasp. She was used to it. So used to it that now all she was was numb. He made her numb. Killed her insides. The only thing left was the baby, the baby that was the result of all his pain and torture. All the nightmares and touching and screaming. All the times she said "no."

"Well," Fred was at a loss for words and instead just sat next to Dawn and placed a gentle arm around her. "You're safe here," And the flood of tears started. The teenager began choking them out, words mixed in.

"I just wish Mom was here," She gasped, and Fred hugged her tighter because she knew what it was like to be dark and alone and numb and not know what to do. She knew what it was like to just want to be home. And she let Dawn cry it out, disgust slowly building in her. That boy, that vile creature, was just as bad as the monsters that had tormented her for so long. And this time, they weren't allowed to kill it.

Authors Note: Update for Ryan, cause she got to the point of IM-ing me on AIM and begging me to update. Alright, well you know some more things about Dawn's rape and she's being kind of all blubbery now but it's kind of expected. Please review.


End file.
